As of August 2013, refind can autodetect the Arch kernel, removing the need for copying the kernel into the EFI partition. Simply install refind and enable the "scan_all_linux_kernels" and "also_scan_dirs" options in refind.conf (see link above for instructions.)

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As of August 2013, refind can autodetect the Arch kernel, removing the need for copying the kernel into the EFI partition. Simply install refind without the EFI filesystem drivers using the --nodrivers option, and enable the "scan_all_linux_kernels" and "also_scan_dirs" options in refind.conf (see link above for instructions.)

Preparing for the Installation

Preparing the Hard drive

Assuming you want to dual boot with OSX (so you can firmware update), you have to shrink it's partition with Disk Utility. You can either create a HFS+ partition now to override later, or leave it empty.

Installation

Booting the live image

Now, download the latest Archboot iso, write it to USB and boot from it by selecting it in the Apple boot loader using hold alt on boot (use refit if you can't get manage to pick it). When it comes to the syslinux boot loader, press Tab to edit the entry and append nomodeset to fix screen corruption.

Internet

Note: You can skip this if you use the Thunderbolt or USB to ethernet adapter for the installation.

The installation

Note: Refer to the MacBook page if you don't want to have a separate partition for GRUB but rather prefer to use rEFInd (or rEFIt).

Run the installation wizard.

Bootloader

Direct EFI booting

As of August 2013, refind can autodetect the Arch kernel, removing the need for copying the kernel into the EFI partition. Simply install refind without the EFI filesystem drivers using the --nodrivers option, and enable the "scan_all_linux_kernels" and "also_scan_dirs" options in refind.conf (see link above for instructions.)

GRUB (with osx)

Another solution is to install GRUB. Edit /tmp/install/boot/grub/grub.cfg and edit the boot entry to load linux-mainline instead of the normal one. You might want to append nomodeset to the kernel line again, at least for now.

This will create file called boot64.efi which contains GRUB and the config file incorporated inside. It is important to cd into the right directory to make it pick up the config file and put it into the right place within the image.

Copy this file to the mac EFI partition. Downside of this method is that you need to repeat this step whenever you want to change the GRUB config. Reboot the machine and you should be able to select your installed Arch Linux by keeping the alt button pressed, it should appear as EFI boot.

To generate a nicer config use: grub-mkconfig, (add in nomodeset if you are using framebuffer), remove quiet if you like the text, then to update your grub post installation do this to make the grub efi and put it in the EFI partition: